Riverside

[Reinholdt]

[Project Icarus]

So this was what helpless felt like. Akin to sleep paralysis, but with so much more pain. More like those torture sessions inflicted on a person whose body suffered from paralytic venom. Becoming a spider's meal then might be the closest comparison. It was certainly worse than the aching training sessions, or the constant nagging by Mister Squiggles to clean his room.

Nahlrae's body couldn't writhe, nor could his mouth scream, so his mind did as much for him instead as he experienced transcendent agony.

[Arkhosia]

[Big Trouble - Post Scriptum]

"Gods, this is all my fault," Ana groans, palms massaging little circles from her eyes to the sides of her face. Half the class???? She looks like she's going to be sick.

[Morty]

[Project Icarus]

"I felt this." The voice of Nahlrae's father whispers in his mind. "When I was betrayed and cast down, I was trapped in torment like this. I did not exist, but I felt and experienced it. Until I clawed my way out."

[Gullara]

[Big Trouble - Post Scriptum]

Eliseo's brow furrows. "Okay, wait. When were you snooping around in my room?" He can narrow that down substantially given she's been in his room exactly once. "I left you alone for, like, what? Five minutes? What the hell." This is also a convenient means of misdirection.

[Reinholdt]

[Project Icarus]

"Well I still exist, Father," Nahlrae points out, (mentally) gritting his teeth in annoyance and using that to ground himself for what else is to come. A focal point with which to push forward. His dad can't possibly understand the pain he's going through, he wasn't even real at the time! This truth keeps Nahlrae sane.

[Meowmai]

[Big Trouble - Post Scriptum]

There is a slight moment where Atsede starts to feel a little bit bad, watching Anastasia shrink into her chair. A slight moment. But she was just having too much fun! Atsede could worry about any risk of guilt later.

"I wasn't even like, snooping, you basically left it out, okay?" Atsede blatantly lies with a dismissive wave of her hand. "That's not important right now, anyways." She continued to munch on her food, wise to Eliseo's tactic. "So..? You gonna tell me? Cus otherwise I'll have no choice but to assume the worst." There was a pause, and a small furrow of confusion on the changelings brow. "Your fault, Strawberry?"

[Arkhosia]

[Big Trouble - Post Scriptum]

”Yes! It’s all my fault!” Ana panics, eyes finally snapping up to meet Atsede’s gaze. Fingers slip beneath her bangs. “A-a-all I had to do was just, use my common sense for once! B-but I didn’t! I dragged him in there, a-and now we’re both grounded and everyone is talking about us!”

Her voice gets a little high and frantic as she goes on, enough to maybe compound her point with a couple glances from surrounding tables.

[Gullara]

[Big Trouble - Post Scriptum]

Oh geez. Eliseo puts a hand on Ana's shoulder and leans in closer to her ear. "Ana, calm down. Take a couple deep breaths, okay?" He moves his hand to rub her back.

Then Atsede gets a glare. "Seriously, stop it. We were just... messing around a little bit somewhere we shouldn't have been. Whatever you're hearing is way over the top."

[Shadowcaller]

[Project Icarus]

Their exchange is interrupted by the sudden surge of one of Ilpholin's memories.
To the King is will be immediately obvious what this memory is of as he was there as well. Since this is the arena where Ilpholin was killed.

However, the moment this realization hits the memory cracks as if it had been a giant mirror before shattering into two.
It seems like something has gone wrong since Nahlrae isn't just seeing one memory, he's seeing two. Though where one begins and the other ends is difficult to tell.

He's kneeling down in what seems to be a wooden arena, that part seems to be true in both memories. Yet before him stands two beings at the same time. Two different instances of the same memory.
In one it's a girl, a teenager, with orange hair and twin tails coming out from underneath her red dress. She looks terrified yet if she fears herself or what she's looking at is hard to determine as her hands seems to have turned into a pair of demonic claws which she stares down at, completely transfixed.
The other is also a girl, looking to be around the same age as the one in the first memory. She's looking much like a vampire if Nahlrae know about them yet. She's holding a sword that appears quite too large for her. Since she looks weak, pathetic really. Shuddering, appearing as she was about to cry but just as likely to lash out with that blade.

Beyond these two the memories seem largely the same though everything but the girls seems shrouded in shadow. But the darkness does not seem to be empty as its alive with movement. At least in one of the memories, as in the other the darkness seems empty and still.

The King will know that one of these memories are his own. It seems like since he too remembers this event his own memories are flowing into Ilpholin's within this dream space.

[Meowmai]

[Big Trouble - Post Scriptum]

Scratch that, the time for feeling guilty was right now. Atsede withered beneath Eliseo's gaze, mumbling, "sorry." She reaches out, in an attempt to take Anastasia's hand in a comforting gesture. "Hey, hey, easy, it's not- they're just rumours, okay?"

As she tried to comfort the fox, something started to whirr into place in the back of Atsede's mind. For now, she ignored it. "Look, I was exaggerating, I mean, not that many people are talking about it," she lied. It was a nice lie, but a lie nonetheless. "Give it time, I mean, soon everyone will get distracted by new rumours involving someone else, or the latest big football game, and before you know it they'll all forget!" This was a little bit more true.

Click.

The pieces fell together in the changelings brain. Anastasia's panicked statement. How she clung to Eliseo near constantly. The marks she occasionally caught a glimpse of on Eliseo's neck. Before she could stop herself, Atsede blurted out, "Oh my god, Strawberry, of course it was you though. You always had a thing for public displays of affection." She blinked, realizing what she said, and pre-emptively shrank away in a very un-Atsede like manner.

[Reinholdt]

[Project Icarus]

"Well there's the first thing wrong," Nahlrae gripes as he waves his hand at the scene, finding at least the stimulation of focusing on something other than the searing pain to be helpful. "Mother turned her back when she knelt down so that she was facing away. Some idiotic appeal to the sense of honor warriors ought to possess or some such other warriors code nonsense I imagine. The rest shouldn't be hard to fix, she was killed with a sword, not claws." Making it the vampire girl, not the fox girl that did the deed.

Honestly Mother turning around made it so hard to see all the expressions, so Nahlrae surprised there's this much depth and nuance to them. Is this what Mother imagined they were feeling? Truly Mother has become delusionally soft if so.

[Gullara]

[Fight or Flight]

"Mine isn't." She sighed. "And I hear that if you do get chill dads, you have to deal with... dad jokes." Atsede shuddered exaggeratedly. Stretching, she followed Eliseo. "But that's more boring that way! She mock-protests.

[Fight or Flight]

Eliseo laughs as they make their way into the kitchen. It definitely doesn't look like the most well used space. Not big cooks in this house, maybe. He pops the fridge open and produces two Fox Colas. "Heads up." He warns and tosses one to her.

"You know this has been fun." Eliseo remarks after having taken a sip. "We should do this more often. You know, once I'm out on parole."

[Morty]

[Project Icarus]

The King does indeed find this memory familiar. But this doubling of it... curious, certainly. Mortal memories are fragile, he knows.

"I do not know what happened before her death. I arrived here when she was already dead. But yes, she was struck down by the vampire whelp, not the fox-child. And she did strike her from behind. The fox said the vampire killed your mother to protect her. This could be why we are seeing them both."

[Arkhosia]

[Big Trouble - Post Scriptum]

"I- okay. S-sorry, just-" Ana staggers out a few shaky breaths, but between Eliseo and Atsede's efforts, the panic seems to mostly subside - and Eliseo might even catch a faint touch of color in her cheeks, a slight widening of the eyes when she realizes the taller girl's hand is on hers. She sighs. "Y-you're right, it'll- it'll probably be fine, but- ugh, it's just so -"

Then Atsede blurts out her sudden realization.

Ana stops in place, the word "embarrassing" caught in her throat, and simply stares at Atsede, stunned. An intense heat seeps up from the base of her neck, rising past her cheeks and scorching the very tips of her ears. "I- I'm not- I-I don't have-" is all she can manage to eke out after a long, shy moment.

[Gullara]

[Big Trouble - Post Scriptum]

Eliseo gives Atsede the most exasperated look. "Holy shit, Atsede. You really don't know when to put a lid on it do you?"

The hand rubbing Ana's back pauses as he processes this intense irritation, but continues again after a moment.

[Meowmai]

[Big Trouble - Post Scriptum]

Eliseo had a point. Atsede was more than aware she was pushing it at this point. She had almost sent Anastasia spiraling into panic and then just had to go and say something when she was calming down. "Okay, okay, fine, sorry. I take it back." She put her leg down from the table, hands up, like she was backing off.

And then, "But it's true though, I mean, like, isn't it!? She totally does! And you!" The changeling pointed an accusing finger at Eliseo, "You keep dodging my question! C'mon now, don't shoot the messenger, just tell meeee."

She really does not know when to put a lid on it.

[Arkhosia]

[Big Trouble - Post Scriptum]

"Oh my gosh Atsede, you're the worst," Anastasia groans, leaning against the table and cradling her face in her hands. She still simmers in embarrassment. "I know we're friends but I'm not just- I'm not just gonna tell you that! A-and its what Eliseo said! We were, um... messing around, that's all."

Usually Ana's pretty skilled at lying, but all this awkward stuff has left her a little off her game. And "messing around" does not cover the full details.

[Gullara]

[Big Trouble - Post Scriptum]

Eliseo's face is brightening up again. He may not blush as much as Ana, but his pale skin reddens like a tomato when he does. "That's pretty private." He protests. "I'm just explaining the lurid details of our, um-" He's not sure how he wants to describe that aspect of their lives. He suspects he'd only make it worse. "Private lives." He settles on.

[Meowmai]

[Big Trouble - Post Scriptum]

Atsede's eyebrow raised at both of their protests. "Uh huh, sure." There sure was a whole lot of meek blushing going on for just 'messing around'. The changeling, who is indeed the worst, gave an exaggerated stretch. "Besides, it's hardly private anymore, considering!" If they wanted to keep their private lives private, they shouldn't have been caught!

[Arkhosia]

[Big Trouble - Post Scriptum]

"That doesn't mean I'm gonna wanna discuss it!" Ana protests, pulling back. Geez, didn't this girl know to read the room? She fidgets for a moment under Atsede's gaze. "And look, um- we were just... making out, really!"

The more the conversation goes on though, the more it feels like her friend isn't going to stop until she gets more insistent or lets something spill. And so, swallowing, Ana finds a bit of fire and decides to elaborate. "I-I guess I can see why someone might've gotten the wrong idea, considering the uh, circumstances - but can you seriously like, not give us such a hard time about it? It was bad enough getting lectured by our parents, let alone learn the whole school's been talking about it!"

[Shadowcaller]

[Project Icarus]

The King does indeed find this memory familiar. But this doubling of it... curious, certainly. Mortal memories are fragile, he knows.

"I do not know what happened before her death. I arrived here when she was already dead. But yes, she was struck down by the vampire whelp, not the fox-child. And she did strike her from behind. The fox said the vampire killed your mother to protect her. This could be why we are seeing them both."

[Project Icarus]

"Well there's the first thing wrong," Nahlrae gripes as he waves his hand at the scene, finding at least the stimulation of focusing on something other than the searing pain to be helpful. "Mother turned her back when she knelt down so that she was facing away. Some idiotic appeal to the sense of honor warriors ought to possess or some such other warriors code nonsense I imagine. The rest shouldn't be hard to fix, she was killed with a sword, not claws." Making it the vampire girl, not the fox girl that did the deed.

Honestly Mother turning around made it so hard to see all the expressions, so Nahlrae surprised there's this much depth and nuance to them. Is this what Mother imagined they were feeling? Truly Mother has become delusionally soft if so.

[Project Icarus]

Good, that's progress. Though I'm noting some discrepancies in the memory matrix. Nahlrae and by extension the King can hear Tauron comment within their mind. I'm somehow picking up two memories instead of one and that shouldn't be possible. I will investigate it as you move on to the next one. It won't effect our work either way.
Shortly afterwards their surroundings seems to melt just as the foxgirl and the vampire was about to end Ilpholin's life.

Speaking of which, Nahlrae will suddenly feel a sharp pain as it feels like he's knocked into the air.
Yet he doesn't land. Instead he's floating suspended in animation alongside shards of broken glass.

His sorrundings are alien and vague. He's inside a building, a corridor specifically, but everything seems off.
The ceiling Nahlrae is forced to look up at is made of a black metal which is already causing alarm bells to ring as Mother recalls it from somewhere. Then there's the enormous runes carved into it which don't bode well either as Mother remembers those all too well too.

Looking around further, he can see that they've just been pushed through some kind of glass display as there are several others like it at the sides of the corridor they're in. They are all displaying more letters belonging to whatever languages includes those runes that seems to have been carved into every surface of this place.

Then he can finally make out a enormous shadowy figure on the other side of the shattered display he just seems to have been thrown through. Horned and clad in a silver armor a deep seated memory of hatred rises within the dreamscape.
A name then comes to mind.

Demon.
Sargon.

[Ilpholin's Compound]

Outside the compound a small army has started to approach. At a distance they might have been mistaken for demons, since just about anything could be called a demon these days, but these are far more metallic than them. Rather than being creatures of flesh or metal they seem to be an mix of both.
They're not just wearing metal armor like the fiends or other kinds of demons Ilpholin and her allies have encountered, they are metal. And flesh.
Perhaps if Ilpholin had been here she would have even felt a certain kind of kinship with them now.

The perhaps most noteble among their numbers is a being that vaguely resemble a humanoid form that has been drenched in molten metal. At their side are two particularly gruesome creatures. Flanking them like personal guards.
It doesn't seem like they're intending to invade or attack as the molten figure walks up to the front gate and simply seem to expect someone or something to greet them.

[Ironsmith]

[A Less-Dark Alley]

"...I would suppose not." The knight considers, resting its chin on its fist as it watches Dulcie attempt to find a seat, dispassionately raising its hand and poking at the air with its finger, blasting the trash off the crate and leaving a slowly-smouldering layer of dust behind. "And what of yourself? Have you any goals for the time you have left?" Despite the simplicity of the question and the relative nonchalance with which its asked, the knight hasn't broken eye contact with her all this time; it's hanging on to her every word, for better or for worse.

[Reinholdt]

[Project Icarus]

Nahlrae looks with passive indifference at the two girls the King in Rags accuses. "The Tower and the Hanged Man are g- OOF!"

Pain supersedes whatever creepy prophecy Nahlrae had about those two as his surroundings shift and change. He frowns at the new situation they find themselves in. This... this memory was blurry, as if it exists, but rarely replayed itself in the mind, dancing off the edge of the camera. "She wasn't under the whole time then?" Nahlrae mutters, mostly to himself in surprise. He thought he knew it all, but Mother managed to keep some things secret even from him. Surprising. Well they'll just have to extrapolate. Or focus. Maybe the memory was in his own subconscious if he thought down hard enough.

"Can demons even wear silver armor? Or is that just something Sargon does to bask in his brightness?" Silver glows in their presence, right? So Sargon is wearing the armor equivalent of floodlights on his body one would think. Probably to prove his rank and badassery.

[Ilpholin's Compound]

There is no gate, just the big metal door at the front of the spider-like building and a relatively nice lawn. A small, inquisitive orb on a stick pops out of a wall panel, spinning around as it looks at the sudden gathering of unexpected guests at this delicate time.

"Good time of day or night. State your purpose and allegiance," the mechanical voice of HALlelujah requests.

[Morty]

[Project Icarus]

"Perhaps it is a show of strength," the King in Rags ventures. "He wears the metal that is his kind's bane to show he does not fear it. Or to deter traitors." His eyes sweep the memory, as if from behind Nahlrae's shoulder. "Your mother's imprisonment by the demons, I presume. Before they handed her over to Tauron... while giving a copy to their slaves in AMEN."

[Gullara]

[Big Trouble - Post Scriptum]

Eliseo crosses his arms now that Ana's calming a bit. "Just because someone walked in on us doesn't mean it's not still private." He points out.

[Theories of Necromantic Adhesion]

"Of course. I wouldn't be wasting your time otherwise," says Sticks, very mildly inclining his head.

[Theories of Necromantic Adhesion]

Reilana smiles. "Great. So when can we do this? You need to do some kind of prep? I've mostly finished my own research, unless you have something I should look at." She suggests.

[Arkhosia]

[A Less-Dark Alley]

"...I would suppose not." The knight considers, resting its chin on its fist as it watches Dulcie attempt to find a seat, dispassionately raising its hand and poking at the air with its finger, blasting the trash off the crate and leaving a slowly-smouldering layer of dust behind. "And what of yourself? Have you any goals for the time you have left?" Despite the simplicity of the question and the relative nonchalance with which its asked, the knight hasn't broken eye contact with her all this time; it's hanging on to her every word, for better or for worse.

[A Less-Dark Alley]

"Ah!" The pink-haired teen jumps a little, then snaps her gaze back towards the knight. "Do warn me next time you do that!" She scowls - though it doesn't quite stop her from dusting it tentatively clean and taking a seat after a moment passes.

"And, well -" For once, the teenager seems to waver. "There's this... girl I like. We've known each other for ages, and I've known she's had a crush on me for like, over a year - but she's not made a move this far, so I suppose that I'll just have to do it myself before I keel over and die!" She throws a hand up in the air in a short, snappy wave - but the knight might notice the fond smile that keeps threatening to ruin a rather performative pout.

"I guess it's a rather banal and selfish little dream, if I'm honest - but, well, I can't imagine it would be very good for her if I just let those feelings go unrequited, right?" There's this briefest, cursory search of the knight's impassive face before her focus drifts. "At least this way I can give her some sort of... closure to everything between us."

[Ironsmith]

[A Less-Dark Alley]

"...I am not sure I would call that 'closure'."

The knight lifts its head and sets the chestplate down in front of itself. "What sort of time will you have together, knowing that you will only live for a little while longer? Your friend is already going to be losing a friend... would you have her lose a lover, as well?" The knight crosses its arms over its chest. "Perhaps it is better that these things go unspoken. That there is nothing added to the coming grief. It may be that she will wonder what could have been between the two of you... but she will wonder also if you do tell her of your feelings, and have the regret of not having known sooner because she was afraid to ask."

The knight stands and puts a cover over the barrel that was acting as its forge. "There are few burdens heavier than the guilt of a coward. Do not thrust that upon her. Not unless you desire that she should suffer."

[Shadowcaller]

[Project Icarus]

The demons armor does indeed glow like silver does when they draw near. Though if his entire armor is made of silver or if its just a coating is impossible to tell from this perspective. Yet he seems a lot more vibrant and colorful than their surroundings which are hazy at best.
They're really given next to no details at all. As if they're watching it all with their eyes half-closed.

Given that this memory was relatively recent it should say something about just poorly Ilpholin seems to remember all of this. With the exception of Sargon himself of course which stands out due to the details he's given.

[Shadowcaller]

[Ilpholin's Compound]

There is no gate, just the big metal door at the front of the spider-like building and a relatively nice lawn. A small, inquisitive orb on a stick pops out of a wall panel, spinning around as it looks at the sudden gathering of unexpected guests at this delicate time.

"Good time of day or night. State your purpose and allegiance," the mechanical voice of HALlelujah requests.

[Ilpholin's Compound]

The metal being narrows its glowing eyes at the orb as it floats up to her. "This is not of phyrexia." She declares, seemingly ignoring the question. "Show me to the phyrexians, now."

As she speaks her two body guards stares at the orb with their many eyes, seemingly just waiting for an excuse to destroy and kill.

[Murkus]

[Theories of Necromantic Adhesion]

Reilana smiles. "Great. So when can we do this? You need to do some kind of prep? I've mostly finished my own research, unless you have something I should look at." She suggests.

[Theories of Necromantic Adhesion]

"Oh, I wasn't sure if you desired my direct assistance or merely my expertise. If it's the former you're after, I can help you, say... tonight? Come back after closing time. That will be about five o'clock. Or I can meet you somewhere you choose if that would make you more comfortable."